THE DA VINCI CODE came and went, PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST came and stayed and our own dear THE MORTAL COIL receives development funding from our own dear AFC! But let’s not distract from those other Things That Matter in the world of story and screenwriting. According to respected screenwriting gurus, one of the most important things …

Following my post on SYRIANA writer/director Stephen Gaghan, I came across an interesting discussion on the necessity of rigorous structuring vs. a more liberal, visual approach to screenwriting. Jim Mercurio makes the following point about Gaghan’s comments in the notorious CS podcast: “Gaghan’s comments are showing that he is evolving from a screenwriter into a filmmaker. “ With ‘filmmaker’, he …

Last year I attended Linda Aronson’s PLOT CONSTRUCTION WORKSHOP and was disappointed with her analysis of Michael Mann’s THE INSIDER. Indirectly that disappointment would lead to the creation of this blog. Rather than opening a dialogue about why THE INSIDER works for some people and not for others, Linda treated it as an example of a failed script. To her …